Christopher: I discovered an acceptable work-around for the problem.
Every time I boot the latest 12.04 LTS system (3.2.0-65) from a power-off state, sound works fine through the amplifier. Every time I boot the latest 12.04 LTS system via a reboot, sound only works through the laptop speakers. I tried this many times, and every time it works this way. So the work-around is when you need to use the 12.04 LTS system, always boot it from a power-off state. Further testing showed that the earlier level of the kernel I had (3.2.0-61) has no problem with playing audio through the amplifier, regardless whether I booted it from a power-off state, or via rebooting. Regarding updating the BIOS: In reading the complex instructions, I noticed the following warning: *WARNING: Flashing motherboard BIOS is a dangerous activity that can render your motherboard inoperable! While the author of this article has successfully run this procedure many times, your mileage may vary. Be careful!* I use this machine for testing a number of OS's - including Windows 7. It is also a machine I use in performing music. Any risk of losing this machine altogether is not a risk I want to take. I have no problems with sound using UbuntuStudio 14.04 in another partition of this machine. It doesn't matter if I reboot, or boot from a power-off state - it works every time. I tried the Ubuntu 14.04 Live CD on the machine, and audio works on it with no problems. Of course, with the live CD, it was from a power-off state. But UbuntuStudio 14.04 had no problems with audio, so probably Ubuntu Unity will work as well. So for any testing I need to do on Ubuntu 12.04 on this machine, I will boot from a power-off state, which ends up with no problems with audio using the amplifier. When Ubuntu 12.04 is no longer supported (and I no longer need an Ubuntu 12.04 test system), I will just install Ubuntu 14.04. I was not aware of any BIOS changes being available. I looked at the first link, and updated my sound card driver (in Windows 7), but that will not change anything in Linux. On Windows 7, I looked under the BIOS section of the web-page for my machine, but it only suggested downloading changes for the trackpad (and two other non-audio devices). I did not see anything for updating the BIOS as a whole. I was not aware that by reporting a problem without first having done the risky procedure of updating the BIOS, I was committing a breach of etiquette, and I apologize for that. Regardless, I do not want to risk the loss of that machine by going through the complex (and risky) process of updating the BIOS. I will be happy to not go to the effort of reporting problems in the future. - Aere On 07/09/2014 04:57 AM, Christopher M. Penalver wrote: > Aere Greenway, as per http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/drivers an update > to your BIOS is available (1.08). If you update to this following > https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BiosUpdate does it change anything? If it > doesn't, could you please both specify what happened, and provide the output > of the following terminal command: > sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date > > Please note your current BIOS is already in the Bug Description, so > posting this on the old BIOS would not be helpful. As well, you don't > have to create a new bug report. As well, you don't have to create a new > bug report. > > For more on BIOS updates and linux, please see > https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Bug_reporting_etiquette > . > > Thank you for your understanding. > > ** Tags added: bios-outdated-1.08 > > ** Changed in: linux (Ubuntu) > Importance: Undecided => Low > > ** Changed in: linux (Ubuntu) > Status: Confirmed => Incomplete > -- Sincerely, Aere -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1338016 Title: [Acer Aspire 4339] Laptop headphones stopped working after updating system To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1338016/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
